Have you been made to feel a bit guilty about polluting the planet by driving around in an old-fangled ICE (internal-combustion engined) car spewing clouds of exhaust gases? Well, relax and stress no more because very soon your car/s will be “clean and green” EV’s (electric vehicles) which you will re-charge overnight using cheap, off-peak electricity from renewable sources.   Or so the blurb goes.

But it will be many decades – even possibly a century – before all our electricity comes from renewables and even EV’s greatest enthusiasts no longer claim them to be non-polluting, although they did until quite recently. However EV emissions are shifted from the tail pipe to the power station, which is probably much better than spewing it out in city centres where large numbers of people linger on traffic-choked streets.

Even though carbon monoxide is the best-known and most maligned pollutant, it is NOT the most toxic..!  Both ICE’s and EV’s emit carcinogenic fumes from over-heated brake disks, hot tyres give off noxious fumes and fine clouds of dust, and all vehicles throw up dust from the road.  And then there is road abrasion, and roads are made of some rather nasty stuff as one can see and smell during re-surfacing.   And let’s not forget RUST particles, and all the other plastic and metallic bits and pieces which are constantly dropping off and littering our country roadsides.

But both car lobbyists and greenies are ignoring the elephant in the room.   By far the most polluting aspect of ALL motor vehicles – whether ICE or EV – is the emissions during the MANUFACTURING process and, in this respect, EV’s are actually bigger polluters due to their batteries.

But emissions are only part of the equation – what about all the materials which go into their construction? And multiply that by their EXISTENCE in such grotesquely huge numbers. The world vehicle fleet is now over 1.5 BILLION (one for every fifth person) and growing by around 5% a year. (And that doesn’t include motorbikes).

Unlike other expensive machinery, most vehicles – especially private cars in rich countries – sit IDLE for 95% of their lives – untidily occupying roadsides, paved-over front gardens, driveways, garages, and parking lots. A stupendous waste of raw materials and energy..! When was the last time you heard any televised green guru fulminating about this very un-green fact..? Let me guess….NEVER..!

EV’S WILL LEAD TO AN INCREASE IN VEHICLE NUMBERS – The forced switch to EV’s will lead to an increase in vehicle numbers as many people – those who can afford to and there are many – will buy an extra or spare car as a safety valve to use in case their other car/cars are not fully charged. How is an increase in car numbers going to help the environment..?

TYRE DUST – ALL cars, and road vehicles, emit clouds of tyre dust which is far longer-lasting and more toxic than carbon fumes, AND it pollutes our water supplies. Arguable, being heavier due to their batteries, EV’s will lead to an increase in tyre wear. Why is nobody talking about this?